Starbuck’s new CEO Brian Niccol wasn’t kidding when he said earlier this year he was going to shake things up at the troubled premium coffee dealer. He says Starbuck’s is officially ‘hitting the pause button’ on prices for the coming year…
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Niccol’s latest promise is a firm commitment not to make any menu price changes over the next fiscal year. Prices won’t go down, but they definitely won’t go up, either…
And when they do come un-stuck…
… Niccols pledges lower prices, especially for the most basic of beverages.
In a recent interview with ABC News, he explained: “The approach we’ve taken right now is we’re go-ing to hit the pause button on any pricing for this fiscal year. I still think there’s an opportunity for us to simplify the pricing architecture right now.”
Niccols says he’ll be focusing on price transparency. “I don’t love the fact that in our app right now, while you’re doing this customization, it doesn’t inform you what has happened to the price, so I want to get more transparent with the pricing.”
Truly ‘back to basics’
Niccols says another of his top priorities will be to speed up service.
“You’re going to have an experience where when you walk in and you interact with the barista, it’s going to be really quick for that [basic] brewed cup of coffee,” he continued. “My hope is we can get you a brewed cup of coffee in less than 30 seconds.”
Next comes ‘streamlining’
Niccol also says he wants to improve overall efficiency, with baristas turning around espresso drinks in less than four minutes. That’s going to require some streamlining of the menu and the order fulfil-ment process. Which, in turn, will quire a simplified menu.
“We’ve got a lot of offerings that there’s just one or two of these ordered a day,” he points out. They’ll be disappearing from the menu. “The way I talk about it is, we’re going to do fewer things, but we’re going to do fewer things better.”
That, Niccols says, will not only improve efficiency, but boost customer satisfaction. And reduce stress on the baristas. Not to mention slimming down what has become an over-inflated, costly in-gredient inventory.
My take
Now… If Niccols can also come through on his promises to bring back the comfy, overstuffed chairs and recapture the old familiar ‘community hangout’ atmosphere the coffee shop brand was founded on…. There’s a good chance he can come through on his overall commitment to, ‘get back to Starbucks’.
~ Maggie J.